To perform the sign “thank you” or “thanks” in American Sign Language (ASL), you take your dominant hand (depending on whether you are left- or right-handed) to your chin and move it slightly down and towards the person you are talking to. The hand shape for this sign is a flat hand.
Useful sentences
Tips & Tricks
Do I use my right or my left hand for signing “thank you”?
For signs that use only one hand, you would typically use the hand you also write with. You can also sign thank you with two hands, in case you want to emphasize your gratitude even further or you are thanking a larger audience.
How can I express that I am VERY grateful for something?
To emphasize that you are very grateful, you can repeat the sign for thank you several times for example. You could also use both your hands, as mentioned above.
Responding to THANKS
Be aware that when responding to “thanks”, you don’t answer with “you are welcome” as you would do in English. Instead, you use different signs depending on the situation. For example, you could answer with “no-problem”, “fine” or “all-good”.
How to say please
Do you want to know how to say “please” in Sign Language as well? Check out our blog post here.
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